On Your Bike!

Our teachers in Year 5 asked all of us who could ride a bike and our names were written down. We were told we were going to have ‘Bikeability’ lessons every day the following week.

The next week…

Our parents signed permission letters so that we could take these lessons. All of the parents wanted us to wear helmets to protect our ‘brainy heads’.

Michael and Wendy were our cycling instructors for the week. Some of us choose to bring in our own bikes and helmets – you could only bring in your own bike if it had a lock so nobody could steal it. The rest of us had a school bike which had to have the seats adjusted depending on our height.

We started to ride the bike around the playground so to make sure we were stable and not wobbly. If we were wobbly – we could not take part on the road.

We had to ride in between cones like a snake and learn to use signals. We learnt we must only look over our right shoulder and be able to signal with one hand whilst still riding our bike.

We need to make sure that we always stay out of the door zone – otherwise we could be hit by a car door.

When we start to ride our bike we must be in the ‘seen and be seen line’ – which is so that car drivers can see us and we can see them.

To keep safe we must wear reflective clothing which helps drivers to easily see us: reflective clothing such as vests, bracelets and strips on our trousers and jackets.

The bike needs to have a headlight at the front and on the back. Also the wheels should have reflectors on them.

Cyclists can ride in a ‘cycle lane’ which is a wide path just for cyclists. You can find these all around London.

Cyclists need to follow the Highway Code so that they keep safe.

We had lots of fun and learnt lots. We learnt how to signal and do U-turns. We also learnt how to do the ABCDcheck:–

A for Air

B for Brakes

C for Control

D for Dangly bits!

Now we have learnt how to ride a bike properly – we all feel safer on the roads.

We also got a badge and a certificate to prove we are bike ‘pros’ – professionals.